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[Feature] Monthly Balance Snapshots for Off-Budget Accounts #2883

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opened 2026-02-28 20:31:29 -06:00 by GiteaMirror · 7 comments
GiteaMirror commented 2026-02-28 20:31:29 -06:00
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Originally created by @prathapkreddy on GitHub (Feb 2, 2026).

Verified feature request does not already exist?

  • I have searched and found no existing issue

💻

  • Would you like to implement this feature?

Pitch: what problem are you trying to solve?

Feature Request: Monthly Balance Snapshots for Off-Budget Accounts

Problem

Actual Budget currently excludes off-budget accounts from:

  • Reports
  • Balance over time
  • Monthly summaries

While this is intentional for budgeting accuracy, it makes it difficult to track historical balances for off-budget accounts such as:

  • Loans / Lines of Credit
  • Investment accounts
  • External liabilities
  • Tracking-only assets

Users often want month-end balance history without bringing these accounts on-budget.

Use Case

As a user, I want to:

  • Keep certain accounts off-budget
  • Record one balance snapshot per month
  • View those balances in a monthly / balance-over-time report
  • Do all of this inside Actual, without external spreadsheets or temporary on-budget hacks

This is especially useful for:

  • Loans and debt tracking
  • Net worth tracking (separate from budget)
  • Long-term financial visibility

Summary

This feature would allow users to:

  • Track off-budget balances monthly
  • View clean historical trends
  • Stay fully within Actual
  • Maintain the strict separation between budgeting and tracking

Describe your ideal solution to this problem

Proposed Solution (Minimal & Flexible)

Add a “Balance Snapshot” feature for off-budget accounts.

Possible implementation options (any one would work):

Option 1: Monthly Snapshot Entry

  • Allow users to add a snapshot balance to an off-budget account
  • Snapshot is tied to a specific date (e.g., month-end)
  • Snapshots appear in:
    • Balance Over Time
    • Monthly reports
  • Snapshots do not affect transactions or budget totals

Option 2: Snapshot Account Type

  • Introduce a special account type:
    • Tracking / Snapshot Account
  • Behaves like a ledger of point-in-time balances
  • Reports show balances as-of date, not cumulative transactions

Option 3: Reporting Toggle

  • Add a toggle in reports:
    • “Include off-budget snapshot balances”
  • Only snapshot entries are included, not transactions

Why This Fits Actual’s Philosophy

  • Keeps budgeting clean and intentional
  • Avoids polluting on-budget reports
  • Reduces reliance on spreadsheets
  • Supports serious long-term financial tracking
  • Aligns with how many users already “hack” this manually

Current Workarounds (Not Ideal)

  • Temporarily moving accounts on-budget
  • Manual spreadsheet tracking
  • Fake on-budget accounts with neutral categories

A native snapshot feature would greatly simplify this.

Teaching and learning

No response

Originally created by @prathapkreddy on GitHub (Feb 2, 2026). ### Verified feature request does not already exist? - [x] I have searched and found no existing issue ### 💻 - [x] Would you like to implement this feature? ### Pitch: what problem are you trying to solve? ## Feature Request: Monthly Balance Snapshots for Off-Budget Accounts ### Problem Actual Budget currently excludes **off-budget accounts** from: - Reports - Balance over time - Monthly summaries While this is intentional for budgeting accuracy, it makes it difficult to **track historical balances** for off-budget accounts such as: - Loans / Lines of Credit - Investment accounts - External liabilities - Tracking-only assets Users often want **month-end balance history** without bringing these accounts on-budget. --- ### Use Case As a user, I want to: - Keep certain accounts off-budget - Record **one balance snapshot per month** - View those balances in a **monthly / balance-over-time report** - Do all of this **inside Actual**, without external spreadsheets or temporary on-budget hacks This is especially useful for: - Loans and debt tracking - Net worth tracking (separate from budget) - Long-term financial visibility ### Summary This feature would allow users to: - Track off-budget balances monthly - View clean historical trends - Stay fully within Actual - Maintain the strict separation between budgeting and tracking ### Describe your ideal solution to this problem ### Proposed Solution (Minimal & Flexible) Add a **“Balance Snapshot”** feature for off-budget accounts. Possible implementation options (any one would work): #### Option 1: Monthly Snapshot Entry - Allow users to add a **snapshot balance** to an off-budget account - Snapshot is tied to a specific date (e.g., month-end) - Snapshots appear in: - Balance Over Time - Monthly reports - Snapshots do **not** affect transactions or budget totals #### Option 2: Snapshot Account Type - Introduce a special account type: - `Tracking / Snapshot Account` - Behaves like a ledger of point-in-time balances - Reports show balances **as-of date**, not cumulative transactions #### Option 3: Reporting Toggle - Add a toggle in reports: - “Include off-budget snapshot balances” - Only snapshot entries are included, not transactions --- ### Why This Fits Actual’s Philosophy - Keeps budgeting clean and intentional - Avoids polluting on-budget reports - Reduces reliance on spreadsheets - Supports serious long-term financial tracking - Aligns with how many users already “hack” this manually --- ### Current Workarounds (Not Ideal) - Temporarily moving accounts on-budget - Manual spreadsheet tracking - Fake on-budget accounts with neutral categories A native snapshot feature would greatly simplify this. --- ### Teaching and learning _No response_
GiteaMirror added the feature label 2026-02-28 20:31:29 -06:00
GiteaMirror commented 2026-02-28 20:31:30 -06:00
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@github-actions[bot] commented on GitHub (Feb 2, 2026):

✨ Thanks for sharing your idea! ✨

This repository uses a voting-based system for feature requests. While enhancement issues are automatically closed, we still welcome feature requests! The voting system helps us gauge community interest in potential features. We also encourage community contributions for any feature requests marked as needing votes (just post a comment first so we can help guide you toward a successful contribution).

The enhancement backlog can be found here: https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/issues?q=label%3A%22needs+votes%22+sort%3Areactions-%2B1-desc+

Don't forget to upvote the top comment with 👍!

@github-actions[bot] commented on GitHub (Feb 2, 2026): :sparkles: Thanks for sharing your idea! :sparkles: This repository uses a voting-based system for feature requests. While enhancement issues are automatically closed, we still welcome feature requests! The voting system helps us gauge community interest in potential features. We also encourage community contributions for any feature requests marked as needing votes (just post a comment first so we can help guide you toward a successful contribution). The enhancement backlog can be found here: https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/issues?q=label%3A%22needs+votes%22+sort%3Areactions-%2B1-desc+ Don't forget to upvote the top comment with 👍! <!-- feature-auto-close-comment -->
GiteaMirror commented 2026-02-28 20:31:31 -06:00
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@youngcw commented on GitHub (Feb 2, 2026):

This is full of inaccuracies. Off budget accounts ARE included in reports. You also can show running balance to see the balance of your accounts at each transaction and you can enable the balance chart on each account. Closing

@youngcw commented on GitHub (Feb 2, 2026): This is full of inaccuracies. Off budget accounts ARE included in reports. You also can show running balance to see the balance of your accounts at each transaction and you can enable the balance chart on each account. Closing
GiteaMirror commented 2026-02-28 20:31:31 -06:00
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@mscipio commented on GitHub (Feb 15, 2026):

This is full of inaccuracies. Off budget accounts ARE included in reports. You also can show running balance to see the balance of your accounts at each transaction and you can enable the balance chart on each account. Closing

Are you sure? I was just trying to graph the historic balance of the IRA accounts that I keep in my offbudget list, and they don't show un in the sidebar to be checked and included in any custom graph

@mscipio commented on GitHub (Feb 15, 2026): > This is full of inaccuracies. Off budget accounts ARE included in reports. You also can show running balance to see the balance of your accounts at each transaction and you can enable the balance chart on each account. Closing Are you sure? I was just trying to graph the historic balance of the IRA accounts that I keep in my offbudget list, and they don't show un in the sidebar to be checked and included in any custom graph
GiteaMirror commented 2026-02-28 20:31:31 -06:00
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@matt-fidd commented on GitHub (Feb 15, 2026):

This is full of inaccuracies. Off budget accounts ARE included in reports. You also can show running balance to see the balance of your accounts at each transaction and you can enable the balance chart on each account. Closing

Are you sure? I was just trying to graph the historic balance of the IRA accounts that I keep in my offbudget list, and they don't show un in the sidebar to be checked and included in any custom graph

There's a toggle in the custom graph options to show off budget, they are included by default in many built in graphs

@matt-fidd commented on GitHub (Feb 15, 2026): > > This is full of inaccuracies. Off budget accounts ARE included in reports. You also can show running balance to see the balance of your accounts at each transaction and you can enable the balance chart on each account. Closing > > Are you sure? I was just trying to graph the historic balance of the IRA accounts that I keep in my offbudget list, and they don't show un in the sidebar to be checked and included in any custom graph There's a toggle in the custom graph options to show off budget, they are included by default in many built in graphs
GiteaMirror commented 2026-02-28 20:31:32 -06:00
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@mscipio commented on GitHub (Feb 15, 2026):

There's a toggle in the custom graph options to show off budget, they are included by default in many built in graphs

I am aware of that, but if I wanted to build a custom graph with only off budget balances, toggling that option doesn't make the off budget accounts show up in the sidebar for the graph customization. I am honestly not even fully sure what that toggle is supposed to do to begin with, if that is not the behavior that was intended. To be clear, I have it toggled as we speak, and I can only select all on budget accounts. If I deselect all of them, I have nothing in my graph, so it's not like something is pulled up behind the scene about my (many) off budget accounts.

I am sure it's a use error, but still not sure how to achieve what I am (an OP was) trying to do

@mscipio commented on GitHub (Feb 15, 2026): > There's a toggle in the custom graph options to show off budget, they are included by default in many built in graphs I am aware of that, but if I wanted to build a custom graph with only off budget balances, toggling that option doesn't make the off budget accounts show up in the sidebar for the graph customization. I am honestly not even fully sure what that toggle is supposed to do to begin with, if that is not the behavior that was intended. To be clear, I have it toggled as we speak, and I can only select all on budget accounts. If I deselect all of them, I have nothing in my graph, so it's not like something is pulled up behind the scene about my (many) off budget accounts. I am sure it's a use error, but still not sure how to achieve what I am (an OP was) trying to do
GiteaMirror commented 2026-02-28 20:31:33 -06:00
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@youngcw commented on GitHub (Feb 15, 2026):

Use the net worth report. Graphing balances is the whole point of that one. Custon reports don't look at balances, they look at transactions.

@youngcw commented on GitHub (Feb 15, 2026): Use the net worth report. Graphing balances is the whole point of that one. Custon reports don't look at balances, they look at transactions.
GiteaMirror commented 2026-02-28 20:31:33 -06:00
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@mscipio commented on GitHub (Feb 15, 2026):

Use the net worth report. Graphing balances is the whole point of that one. Custon reports don't look at balances, they look at transactions.

I am only now realizing you can filter by accounts in the net worth graph. I told you it was mostl likely user error. The GUI of that report is different from any other so I guess it didn't intuitively click with me I could do it

@mscipio commented on GitHub (Feb 15, 2026): > Use the net worth report. Graphing balances is the whole point of that one. Custon reports don't look at balances, they look at transactions. I am only now realizing you can filter by accounts in the net worth graph. I told you it was mostl likely user error. The GUI of that report is different from any other so I guess it didn't intuitively click with me I could do it
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Reference: github-starred/actual#2883